R5 interval timer does not work

[jblazar]

I cannot get my interval timer (for stills, like for the meteor shower last night) to work on the R5. It works fine on the 5DIV.  I've seen others conplaining of this problem, but others say it works fine for them. Canon told me that they have had others complain about this. Anybody else have this problem?  Anyone aware of a solution in the works?  I can use an external interval timer, but I want to be able to use the one in the camera.

[Waddizzle]

Okay.  If you're trying to set the camera up for a series of night sky shots, what is your shutter speed, and what is the length of you interval?

[jblazar]

I tried several different settings. They all worked on my 5D IV, but none worked on the R5. For instance, 10 second timer, 5 second shutter speed. That should give the camera plenty of time to record the image before taking the next shot. I really don't believe that it is a settings problem. I even reset the camera to its defaults.  When I talked to Canon, I tried their suggestions, which didn't solve the problem. This is a camera problem. I'm not the only one experiencing it.  Several on Fred Miranda and Canon Rumors are also complaining about it. 

[Waddizzle]

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@jblazar wrote:

I tried several different settings. They all worked on my 5D IV, but none worked on the R5. For instance, 10 second timer, 5 second shutter speed. That should give the camera plenty of time to record the image before taking the next shot. I really don't believe that it is a settings problem. I even reset the camera to its defaults.  When I talked to Canon, I tried their suggestions, which didn't solve the problem. This is a camera problem. I'm not the only one experiencing it.  Several on Fred Miranda and Canon Rumors are also complaining about it. 

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If you have Long Exposure NR turned on, then that may not be a long enough interval.  With a 5 second shutter speed, the NR would need another 5 seconds to do its' job.  Is the shutter actually firing every 10 seconds?

[jblazar]

Long exposure noise reduction is off.  The timer counts down the shots but doesn't actuate the shutter.

[jimre]

The problem is you likely have Back-Button Focus enabled. Seems to be a bug with the R5 intervalometer. Turn off Back-button Focus and it seems to work.  Serious bug IMHO, since this works fine on all other Canon bodies.

See my other post https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/R5-Intervalometer-DOESN-T-TRIGGER-with-back-button-focus/m-p/...

[Waddizzle]

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@jimre wrote:

The problem is you likely have Back-Button Focus enabled. Seems to be a bug with the R5 intervalometer. Turn off Back-button Focus and it seems to work.  Serious bug IMHO, since this works fine on all other Canon bodies.

See my other post https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS/R5-Intervalometer-DOESN-T-TRIGGER-with-back-button-focus/m-p/...

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I do not consider that to be a bug.  But, that is another discussion.  For example, there is no BBF in Live View, only the shutter button, so the interval timer only presses a virtual shutter button.  Any BBF setup is ignored  That is off-topic, though.

In fact, BBF may not even be the problem.  It is only a potential problem when you are in One Shot AF mode, and the lens is set to AF.  Most people set their lenses to MF for astrophotography.  The last thing you want is for the camera to try to refocus between shots.

[jimre]

No this issue has *nothing* to do with putting your lens in MF. It fails exactly the same way, whether your lens is in AF or MF mode.

As I said, the workaround is to disable back-button focus. Otherwise the intervalometer just does "Metering" every N seconds, it never triggers the shutter. Whether you think it's a bug or not is irrelevant. The behavior is DIFFERENT from every other Canon body, and is simply broken on the R5.

[jblazar]

Yes, enabling AF on the shutter button allows the interval timer to work now. But this needs to be fixed. The good thing is that it seems like an easy firmware fix. Obviously they know the code, since the 5D IV works fine. 

[aschlabach]

Does anyone know if this has been fixed yet in a firmware update? I just got my R5 and discovered this issue -- super annoying. Thank you!